September 8, 2012 - The pattern of Hillsdale College athletic teams starting their seasons against the toughest of foes continued Friday afternoon at the college tennis courts.
Entering its second season as a revived program, the Hillsdale College women's tennis team made its 2012 season debut against GLIAC champion Northwood University, and came away with an 8-1 loss. The Timberwolves finished 2011 in first place in the conference with a perfect 12-0 record.
Hillsdale's lone victory came at No. 2 singles, where sophomore Morgan Delp put together a fine performance, defeating Northwood's Svenja Stephan 6-3, 6-2.
Morgan's younger sister Sydney made her collegiate tennis debut Friday afternoon, and despite coming out on the losing end of her singles and doubles matches, made quite an impression by battling deep past the normal margins for a tennis match.
Sydney Delp, a freshman from Toledo, came back from a 6-2 loss in the first set to Nastya Puchkina to win the second set in decisive fashion, 6-1. The two players then played to an unheard-of 14-12 score in the third-set tiebreaker, with Delp coming out on the short end of the score at No. 4 singles.
Complete match results can be found below.
Singles competition
1. Susana Alcaraz (NU) def. Brittany Parks (HC) 6-0, 6-2
2. Morgan Delp (HC) def. Svenja Stephan (NU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Ayana Kobayashi (NU) def. Lindsay Peirce (HC) 6-1, 6-2
4. Nastya Puchkina (NU) def. Sydney Delp (HC) 6-2, 1-6, 14-12
5. Mariia Avksenko (NU) def. Rachel Blaauw (HC) 6-0, 6-2
6. Inesa Asatryan (NU) def. Morgan Linden (HC) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Susana Alcaraz/Nastya Puchkina (NU) def. Brittany Parks/Morgan Delp (HC) 8-2
2. Svenja Stephan/Ayana Kobayashi (NU) def. Lindsay Peirce/Sydney Delp (HC) 9-7
3. Nikoletta Kaposzta/Inesa Asatryan (NU) def. Shannon O'Hearn/Rachel Blaauw (HC) 8-0